


Secrets Away

by modestroad



Category: Birds of Prey (Comic), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Adult Content, Angst, Drug Use, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-15
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-02-08 23:44:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1960746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modestroad/pseuds/modestroad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Is a secret strong enough to break them apart or bond them forever? Dick is going to find out that sometimes you have to break something just to fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this almost four years ago for a big bang. I'm not part of the DCU fandom anymore, but this story holds a special place in my heart. A Trip Down Memory Lane. 
> 
> The story take place after The Return of Bruce Wayne.

He knew that something was wrong the minute she asked him not to come home to her. 

Dick frowned behind his domino mask. Bruce was back, Tim was back, Dinah was back, Stephanie was studying for the semester and Damian was bothering Alfred with something. Then, what was wrong with Babs and why she had asked him to spend the night (day) away from her?

Not that he minded it…much, but he had got used to spending his days with her. After all those years of playing hide and seek with their feelings, they had finally decided to give their relationship a chance. He had moved in with her soon after and, as long as he didn’t touch her computers, they were doing fine.

As fine as life with a female Bruce could be. Babs had her quirks and so had he. He smiled. He could live without Oracle, but waking up without Babs on his side was something he couldn’t even picture. And that’s how he knew she was the one; he knew her quirks and he could live just fine with them.

So why had she asked him to stay away from their apartment? 

It wasn’t his birthday, it wasn’t Babs’s birthday and he was pretty sure it wasn’t Dinah’s birthday. If it had been, Barbara wouldn’t have stopped talking a bout it. She wouldn’t arrange a Surprise Party, considering she hated surprise parties, but she would arrange something nice for Dinah.

So there was no Party. It wasn’t their anniversary either. He wouldn’t forget their anniversary, and he was positive if he had he wouldn’t be told not to come home. She would want to lure him there to implant an escrima stick in his head. So why didn’t Babs want him to come to their apartment? Dick bit his lip. Then it hit him. Maybe she had something in mind. Like that day she had asked him to bring some chocolate and they had ended up spending the better part of the day in the hot tub drinking wine and sharing the delicacy.

He smiled. If that was the case, then he didn’t mind staying out of her way for a few hours. Dick would have enough time to take a quick shower and change clothes. That was a good plan. And maybe on his way to Babs, he could buy some flowers for her. She didn’t go out much and the flowers would brighten up the room. 

Yup, that sounded like a plan. He would buy flowers and chocolate and the whole Gotham if he had to, just to find the excuse he was needed. Somehow he doubted that Babs’s plan was to seduce him. He wished it was that simple case of seduction, but something in his gut told him that wouldn’t be. 

Two hours later, when he entered the apartment, the feeling had not abated. Usually, by now Babs would have cracked a joke or would be waiting for him with eyes that burned with fire to lecture him about his night’s activities. But now the silence was deafening. There were no jokes, no lectures, no Barbara.

“Babs?”

Dick left the flowers on the coffee table nearby and called her name again. “Babs? Barbara?”

More silence. And then, he paused. There! A cough sounded from the bathroom. Before going there, Dick did a quick search of the place. The door was locked when he came and the alarms were on. He had had to enter the code to let himself in and the place was exactly as he left it last nigh. Last night’s dinner was still on the table; they had got an emergency call and Oracle had been behind her computer all night, giving them Intel when they needed it.

Almost all of the night. Oracle had shut down her system for a few minutes. Dick hadn’t paid much attention at the time, since he was in the middle of a fight and it was usual for Oracle to have more than two teams to guide at the same time, but when she put the comn link back on, she sounded kind of off. Like she needed some time to find the an answer. Again, Dick hadn’t thought much at the time, but he did recall Batman asking them to switch off their comm links at some point.

If Barbara was sick (she had been acting a little weird the last couple of days) and Bruce knew and hadn’t said a thing to him, Dick was going to be really pissed off. The man could drive a saint mad with anger! 

With that in his mind, Dick didn’t wait with knocking on the bathroom door and walking inside only to stop dead in his tracks. For a moment he didn’t want to believe it. No way, no. He waited for her to say something to him, but Barbara dropped her head down in defeat.

He walked closer. He took the small, plastic bag from her lap and the cigarette from her hand and smelled it. Then he looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time and, in a way, he was. His hand grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. She didn’t make a move to stop him and a part of him hated her for her passiveness. 

She avoided his gaze. “Look at me. Look. At. Me.”

Slowly she looked at him. Bloodshot eyes, dilate pupils. This wasn’t happening to him. This was a joke. She was playing a joke on him. A sick, twisted joke, but it was meant to be a joke. But, if it was a joke, why did she look at him with shame in her eyes? 

His mind screamed to him to leave the room before he did something he would regret later, but his body was faster than his mind. His hand moved so fast he didn’t have time to stop it. The blow, which had at first been meant for her face, was diverted and his hand slammed into the sink, hard. She jumped, even though she hadn’t been struck, and he felt the same pain, compounded on the horror of his discovery, that he had hit her. Breathing heavily, and clenching the hurt hand, he watched her. 

For a minute no one moved. Then Babs’s body started to shake from with tears and Dick just had to get out of there. 

 

************

 

“He did what?”

Dinah looked at her best friend for some explanations. The younger woman was behind a computer and typing feverishly. For two weeks this was the only place to go if you wanted to find the redhead. Dinah couldn’t remember the last time she had seen the girl do her exercises. 

Without taking her eyes away from the screen, Barbara said with calm voice, “He left his key outside my door.”

“While you were watching him?”

“I’m always watching, Dinah. That’s what I do. I watch. All the time.”

There was a tiny hint of frustration in Babs’s voice. Just a tiny hint, but enough to make Dinah back off. If she pushed Barbara now, the redhead would put up walls around herself so fast and so thick Dinah would never get passed them. Dinah would never understand how Babs’s mind worked. For her it was simple; if you loved someone, you had to try. 

“What are you going to do?”

The tip tap on the keyboard stopped and a weird silence fell to the room. Babs looked at her for the first time since Dinah had walked in. The whole break up with Nightwing was tougher than what Babs claimed and Dinah could see how badly had it was affecting affected her friend.

Threads of red capillaries laced the whites of Oracle’s eyes and her eyelids looked bruised by fatigue. Barbara had lost some weight. Her cheekbones were pronounced, giving her a gaunt look. Dinah let out a sigh and shook her head. Why did Bat people do that sort of thing to themselves?

“Listen, girlfriend, I don’t care if you’re hacking Batman’s porn stash and, if you are, please don’t tell me, but go and get dressed. We’re going out.”

Barbara was ready to protest, but Dinah crossed her arms in front of her in a way that meant serious business. No one was foolish enough to go up against the Black Canary when she was in the mood for a fight and Barbara was smart enough to know when she couldn’t win. With delight, Dinah watched her friend grudgingly roll her way to the bedroom. She had won the battle, but she had a long way ahead of her if she wanted to win the war. 

Dinah wasn’t so sure she could win the war, but she could try. Based on Babs’s looks, it wouldn’t be such hard work; the younger woman looked about ready to fall apart from exhaustion. All Dinah had to do was be there when that happened. And if she happened to be the one to give the final push, then all the better. Everything to get Gordon Fort to open up and tell her what had happened with Nightwing.

Because something had happened two weeks ago. Dinah didn’t know what exactly, but she knew the results. Nightwing had been MIA for a couple of days and Babs had been especially cranky the last two weeks. So Dinah knew how it had ended, but not how it had started and with a little luck she was going to find out tonight.

“He caught me.”

Dinah jumped. Damn! Despite being in the chair, Barbara still had that creepy, sneaky way of approaching people without getting noticed until she was right next to them. Turning to look at her, Dinah was surprised to see that not only Babs hadn’t changed her clothes, but, if possible, she looked even worst than before.

“He caught you doing what exactly?” 

Barbara brought an imaginary joint to her lips and took an imaginary puff.

“Oh!” 

“Oh? That’s all you have to say? Oh?” 

“How’s ‘oh shit’? Better?” 

Barbara laughed, but her laugh was a tired one and didn’t last long. She took out her glasses and rubbed her eyes for a long time. 

“God, Dinah. I should have said something to him sooner.”

Dinah nodded, but she wasn’t listening to her friend. She knew the next part by heart. Babs would spent the better part of the next hour blaming herself and wouldn’t listen to what Dinah had to say anyway, so why bother to listen in the first place? Instead of listening, Dinah observed. 

Again with the rubbing! Whenever Babs was ashamed for a situation she rubbed her eyes. 

“Babs? Honey, stop with the rubbing,” Dinah kneeled in front of her and took Babs’s hands into hers; Babs’s fingers were icy cold. “When was the last time you ate something?”

“I had a toast earlier.”

Dinah shook her head. “You had half a toast and that was five hours ago. You think starving yourself will make your problems with Nightwing disappear?”

To her credit, Barbara tried to joke. “They won’t?”

“Not really. He can disappear, but the problems? Nope! They stay behind. Trust me, I know a thing or two about man problems. Let’s make you a little something to eat, okay?”

Two cups of tea and half a sandwich later Dinah felt that it was time to ask for more details. Babs didn’t look like she was going to pass out any second now and the color had returned to her cheeks.

“So he walked in?”

“I had a pretty bad day, remember? I even had to leave you kids alone for a few minutes.”

Putting her cup down Dinah nodded. “Do you think Dick suspected something, then? He didn’t seem to mind at the time, but I can never know with you Bat boys and girls.”

Barbara thought about it for a few minutes then shook her head and took a sip from her tea. “I don’t know. Maybe yes, maybe no.”

“I think that he did. He’s a pretty good detective after all.”

“Dinah, I had dinners with my father high like you wouldn’t believe it and he never suspected a thing until the day I told him.” She picked at some bread and put it in her mouth. “He didn’t want to believe that his daughter could smoke pot. He didn’t want to believe it, so he didn’t see the signs.” 

“And you think Dick did the same?”

“You don’t want to believe the worst for the people you love.”

Dinah crooked her head to the right. She could remember the day she saw Babs smoke like it was yesterday. Of course Barbara had the dignity to warn her first before disappearing to the bathroom and staying there for nearly two hours. Needless to say that they were two of the worst hours in Dinah’s life.

The memories of Roy’s addiction were still fresh in her mind. And Babs…She was Oracle for crying out loud! Oracle was always so anal and tight that it didn’t make sense. At first Dinah thought that she had heard wrong. It was the only possibility; she had heard wrong. But Babs had a haunted look in her face when she went to the bathroom and a goofy half grin when she walked out. No pun intended.

Dinah had waited. God, how she had waited for Babs to give her an explanation. And when the explanation came, suddenly everything made sense. Babs’s need for isolation, the sudden changes in her mood, the fact that sometimes she still used that awful computer voice when she was talking to them from the comm link.

“What are you going to do about Nightwing?”

Barbara shrugged, hunching her shoulders. 

“Are you going to do something about Nightwing?”

The redhead stayed silent. 

“Babs? You know I love you, right? Here’s the phone. Call him. Or I’ll kick your ass and you know I mean it.”

 

************

 

Bruce fastened the belt of his dobok and went to the middle of the ring. It had been a while since he had the opportunity to practice the pumsae without Damian’s comments about his flexibility. He wasn’t as flexible as Dick was, and his son, despite his big mouth, had the potential to be even better than him as a martial artist, but he couldn’t understand that the pumsae were important to the confidence of the martial artist.

His son was good, even better than him when he was Damian’s age, but he still had a lot to learn.

With a yell and a nod. Bruce started to perform pumsae after pumsae, taking pleasure in the burning sensation in his muscles. He hit and blocked hard and soon he was covered with sweat. He let his thoughts go and focused on his kicks. If someone saw him from a distance, they would think that he was in grave danger and was fighting for his life. Truth was that he was never more alive.

He was in the air, performing a butterfly kick when he spotted him. Landing gracefully, he took a few seconds to catch his breath. Then he turned his attention to his older son.

“You are still here.”

It wasn’t a question; it was a fact. He didn’t mind having (almost) all of his boys home, but Dick hadn’t really been himself for a while now. Bruce knew what had happened with Oracle, but it wasn’t his place to intervene. If Dick wanted to talk, he would talk. He wasn’t a little kid anymore and Bruce had faith in him. Dick was going to do what was best in the end. 

“Yep. Still here. For a little while. You don’t mind, do you?”

Bruce took a couple of steps back. He needed enough force power if he wanted to do a flying back kick. It wasn’t a kick he used often when he was fighting, since he used more hand-to-hand techniques. Flying was more Nightwing’s thing. He was heavier and didn’t have the same flexibility as when he was young.

“This is your home, Dick. You don’t have to ask to stay here. Alfred is delighted to have you here and Damian likes you.”

“He doesn’t show it.”

Bruce nodded and decided that it was for the best to cut his practice short. Dick needed him and although he was the last person on earth to give romantic advice, Dick was waiting; obviously expecting something from him. Taking a clean towel, he wiped the sweat off his face. 

“You’re not here to talk about Damian, Dick. Something else is troubling you.”

Dick put his hands inside the front pockets of his jean. “Why do I think you already know what’s bothering me?”

“Because I’m Batman?” Bruce said and when Dick threw his head back with laughter he was glad to see that the younger man hadn’t lost his sense of humor. 

“Tell me something, Bruce. Did you know?” Dick asked him when he sobered up.

Bruce said nothing.

“You did know! Great. You can’t believe how big a jerk I feel right now. Did everyone know but me?”

“I can’t say that everyone knew.”

Dick was surprisingly calm. “Just so you know, you don’t make me feel any better.” 

Bruce looked at him for a while saying nothing. Then he pointed at the ring. With a nod, Dick went to change his clothes to a dobok. Bruce knew that it wasn’t something that Dick preferred to wear since the fabric was too thick and narrowed down the acrobat’s moves. 

Good!

Dick needed to blow some steam, not win the gold metal for figure ice skating. And that exactly he did. The blows were coming hard and fast, nothing that Bruce couldn’t block, but he let Dick pass a punch or two. The boy had a mean left uppercut, but he was leaving his right side open far too often. Nightwing’s bigger asset was his speed and flexibility, and wouldn’t face a problem in a fight, but Batman wasn’t one to forgive.

“Watch your right.”

“I am watching my right!” Dick said and tried to catch Bruce of guard only to face the ground. “Okay, I wasn’t watching my right.”

“Your mind is not here,” Bruce offered his hand to him to help him get up. Dick took it and with one graceful move he threw Bruce down.

Dick frowned. “You let me throw you down. Why?”

Rubbing his chin Bruce said to him, “You looked like you needed it.”

Dick sat in butterfly position and soon Bruce followed his lead. His son was in pain, but Bruce was happy that he had him here with him. It had been so long since they had spent time together without ending up in a fight or one of them leaving the room in a hurry.

Observing his older son Bruce saw lines that weren’t there when he ‘left’. The Batman was a hard burden to carry and not one he wished for Dick. It took him a while, but now Bruce understood that Dick was never meant to be Batman. Dick was his own man and would never be happy carrying someone else’s name.

“Thank you.”

Bruce looked at him with something like confusion in his eyes. “For what?”

“For letting me win.”

“It was a draw.”

Dick smiled. “A draw with Batman is as good as a win.”

Sometimes it was hard for Bruce to be around Dick. Dick’s smile reminded him of another lifetime. A simpler, happier lifetime. But his boy had grown to be a man. A man that Bruce was proud to call son. 

“Barbara,” he said and watched the smile vanish from Dick’s lips. He cleared his throat. “She’s been through a lot.”

“I’m not mad about her smoking marijuana.” 

“You’re mad about her keeping it a secret?”

Dick shrugged, “Well, yeah. We were supposed to be starting a relationship. She asks me to move in; I move in. We go shopping together. I even watch her favorite TV show and I hate vampires. I hate them with a passion. And she always drools over that tall blond guy. I didn’t even know she liked blonds, you know? But anyway that’s not the point. The point is that for her I sit down and watch and try to be a good boyfriend, and she’s keeping secrets from me? Like I’m not good enough for her to tell me?”

“It’s not that.” Bruce replied. 

Dick stretched his arms behind his head. Then he ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his neck. Bruce could tell he was uncomfortable. He suddenly realized that he was talking about relationships with Dick. They never had the chance to do that when Dick was a teenager and it felt a little weird.

Of course, the fact that they were talking about Barbara made the whole thing more uncomfortable for both men. Barbara was a good ally and an even better friend, but she was also the daughter of his best friend. If Dick ended up breaking her heart, Bruce would be in a tough situation. 

He had to do something. 

Alfred was better than him when it came to this kind of things. But he had send Alfred along with Damian to the town. Damian had been home-schooled his entirely life and Alfred thought that maybe it was time to go to a normal school. Usually, Alfred was right, so he and Damian had gone to search for the proper school for the boy. 

That meant that he was all alone with Dick. And that meant that he was going to try and do his best to help Dick with his situation. Bruce knew how stubborn Barbara could be and he also knew how stubborn Dick could be and two stubborn people needed all the help they could get. Help that Bruce had no idea how to provide to Dick without choosing one side over the other. 

“Do you really think that Barbara would ever think that of you?”

Dick shook his head. “I don’t know. What else can it be? She forgot to tell me? You know how she takes pride in her eidetic memory, so I have a hard time believing that she just didn’t remember.”

“Dick, have you even thought about the possibility that Barbara was ashamed?” Bruce asked, keeping his tone level.

That startled the younger man. “Why should she be? She’s using it for medical reasons. I get that.”

“Maybe she doesn’t get this.”

“What?” Dick was confused.

“You know how Barbara is, Dick. Do you honesty believe that she was going to feel anything but shame? She’s Commissioner’s Gordon little girl. Imagine how she feels knowing that her father is trying so hard to clean the streets of Gotham and his own daughter is buying drugs.”

Dick scowled. “Yeah...I, um, I haven’t thought about that.”

“Now you can,” Bruce got up when he saw that someone was calling the Batcave. He hoped it wasn’t Alfred saying that Damian had been disrespectful to everyone and they had to find a teacher. The kid needed to spend a few hours with kids his age, else he would turn out to be a younger version of his father.

And that was the last thing Bruce wanted for his son. That was the last thing he wanted for all his sons and daughters. He frowned with the thought of Cassandra. He still had no idea of where she was and, if Oracle knew, she didn’t volunteer to tell him and he wasn’t going to ask.

“Batman,” he said and was surprised to see Oracle’s symbol to the screen. She rarely used the green mask when she was talking to him. “Where do you need us, Oracle?”

“Nowhere.”

Bruce looked at Dick. The raven-haired man had stood up and was now next to him. Dick looked back at Bruce. Something was wrong. Why would Barbara hide her face from them?

“Is everything okay, Oracle?” Bruce asked and waited for the answer.

“No, in fact, nothing is okay and I don’t know how to make this stupid thing work,” the voice on the other end of the communication said. “Barbara is probably going to have a fit, if she finds out that I used her precious computers.”

“What can I do for you, Black Canary?”

“Is Nightwing with you?”

Dick waved no to Bruce. “Yes, he is.”

Dick rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in defeat.

“Tell him to meet me outside the library in an hour. And he better show up or else--“

Dinah didn’t have to finish her warning. Bruce closed the communication and watched the blank screen for a couple of seconds. When he turned his head, Dick had already worn his jeans and was fighting to get in his t-shirt.

“You’d better take a shower first, Dick.”


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You are a dick!” 
> 
> Dinah yelled at Dick without caring about the people that were staring at her, the second she spotted him parking his bike. Bat boys sure did like their fancy toys, Dinah thought looking at Dick’s black Ducati. She was ready to ask how fast this baby could go when she shook her head. She was here for a mission, not to drool over impressive motorbikes.

“You are a dick!” 

Dinah yelled at Dick without caring about the people that were staring at her, the second she spotted him parking his bike. Bat boys sure did like their fancy toys, Dinah thought looking at Dick’s black Ducati. She was ready to ask how fast this baby could go when she shook her head. She was here for a mission, not to drool over impressive motorbikes.

For God’s sake, she wasn’t a dude with a turn-on for fast rides! Okay, she wasn’t a dude, but she liked fast rides and she was about to give Grayson the ride of his life. Without giving him enough time to settle the bike, an accusing finger touched his chest.

“You are a dick!” She said again, the finger still on his chest, Dinah raised an eyebrow challenging him to say something. 

He smiled at her and for a second Dinah could understand why Babs had fallen for him. Dick’s best feature was his boyish smile and she let out a deep sigh. How was she supposed to stay angry with him, when all he had to do was smile and she was turning into a puddle of goo?

“What am I going to do with you?” 

“I thought I was a dick,” he said.

Dinah bit her lip. “You are. But you kinda grew on me. Like a fungus.”

He shook his head as if he didn’t believe her. “Any chance you went to all that trouble just to say I’m a dick? Although I’m not really sure why I’m the dick here; your girlfriend was the one that threw me out of her house.”

Dinah opened her mouth to say something. Then she closed it. Then she opened it again 

“Either that’s you best ‘I’m a goldfish’ imitation or Babs didn’t tell you. I hope it is your ‘I’m a goldfish’ imitation ‘cause I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side. You weren’t a member of the League just because you look great in leather.”

Dinah said nothing.

“Dinah? Are you feel--“

“That little…little…” Dinah struggled to find the right word. Then her face lit like a Christmas tree. She had found the right word after all. “Bat!”

She heard him chuckle and gave him her best Canary stare. The one that send chills down Ollie’s spine. The one that was enough to stop any thug on the spot and have him cry uncle. Dick stopped at once. Yeah, she still had it.

“Why don’t we go somewhere more private?” Dick asked and Dinah had to agree with him. 

They walked inside the library without talking, side by side. Dinah felt like she was going behind Babs’s back but she had to know the truth. Babs would never tell. She could have Zinda pour drinks for the redhead all night and all day and Dinah doubted that they could learn anything from her.

The redhead was stubborn as a mule and could keep a secret when she wanted to. Like being infected by the Brainiac virus. If Babs hadn’t gotten sick from it Dinah could bet good money that Oracle could have kept it a secret. Why did she have to be so damn proud anyway? 

“Here is good,” she couldn’t wait any longer.

“Babs would love the irony,” Dick whispered but he didn’t have to. Dinah had chosen the perfect spot for a little chit chat between friends. “You knew?”

It wasn’t an accusation but it sure felt like one. “She had told me, yes.”

“Does her father know?” 

“Does it matter?”

“To me it does.”

Dinah felt sorry for Dick. For a moment she considered the possibility of lying to him, but the last thing he needed was more lies. She nodded.

“Great! Just great.”

“It’s not easy for her.”

He put a hand in front of him in the universal sign of no. “Don’t, okay? Just don’t. Don’t try to justify her action to me. For some reason Ms Gordon decided that I wasn’t worthy enough to bless me with her trust.”

Dinah was surprised from the bitterness in his voice. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do actually. I do. You knew. Bruce knew, Jim knew, the junkie down the road knew, everybody and their mothers knew and I didn’t have a clue.” He laughed. “I suppose I had enough clues to put two and two together, but I always thought that if she had a problem, she would come to me.”

“She wanted to tell you.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Dinah tilted her head to the right. “I suppose not. Tell me what happen, Dick. Right now I have two friends that need my help. One is going to get some TLS and the other is going to have her ass kicked.”

He rose and eyebrow. “Her?” 

“Oh, come on! Like you don’t want to do it.”

Dick’s laughed was short lived but a loud ‘ssshhhh’ was heard from the other side of the room. Dinah put a hand in front of her mouth to contain her giggles. Coming to the library wasn’t such a smart move as it seemed, but she had chosen the library for the privacy it could provide. A café was too dangerous; you could never know who was listening and the last thing Dinah wanted was some low life reporter finding out about Commissioner’s Gordon’s daughter’s drug use. 

That thought was enough to sober her up. Babs had had enough without getting the front page. And if there was a person that needed respect that person was Jim Gordon. It would pain her to see him suffer the consequences if that went public. Everybody knew how much the Commissioner loved his daughter and it wouldn’t take long for the rumors to start flying. And Gotham couldn’t afford to lose Gordon again. 

“What did she say to you?” Dick asked, bringing an end to her thoughts.

“She didn’t say much. Only that you left your key--“

“She threw me out!”

“And as I said she didn’t say much!” 

“Did she say that I went back immediately to apologize for my behavior only to have her shut me out?”

Dinah shook her head.

“Did she say that I begged, I begged her Dinah, to talk to me and she acted like nothing was wrong?”

Dinah shook her head again.

“And did she say to you that after that I tried to play her game? I thought that if I went along with her moods she would open up, you know? Of course, I didn’t hope that she would start talking right away, but I was hoping for something. Nada! Zero! Meden! She stopped talking to me. She stopped sleeping in our bed. She shut me out completely! I have faced enough walls in my life to know when I have to push and when I have to move on.”

Dinah watched him as he poured his heart out and tried to realize what was wrong with him. It wasn’t the dark clothes, no that was a thing left over from his time as the Dark Knight. It wasn’t his laugh that was now hard and cold much like Bruce’s. He was overtaking and that was such a Dick thing to do, but what caught her attention was his lack of movement.

When Dick was nervous he moved. When Dick was calm and relaxed, he moved. The man was like the Energizer Bunny, always moving, never able to stand still. It was one of the things that drove Babs crazy and Dinah hadn’t realized how much she connected Dick with movement until today. 

She opened her mouth to comment, but decided that a hug would be nicer. Dick wasn’t a very tall man but he was just the right size of tall for her. Hugging him didn’t feel like such a silly thing. From the way he hugged back, it was obvious that the younger man needed that hug like he needed air to breath. 

Dinah doubted that Bruce was the hug type. The most affection Dinah could picture him showing was a friendly tap on the shoulder. Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder how Dick had grown to be the man he was now. He was the opposite of Bruce…and, in a way, the opposite of Babs.

Maybe that’s why it had taken them so long to stop dancing around each other and do something about their feelings. Dick was pretty much an open book while Babs was the Kindle version for PC; you didn’t know what you bought until you opened it and read it. Yet there was one time not too long ago that Dinah could look at her best friend and know what she was feeling.

“You can let me go now, Dinah, I’m not going to break,” Dick said and when she raised her head to look at him, he smiled and, for the first time today, he smiled like he meant it.

“I’ve missed you,” Dinah whispered but loud enough for him to hear it. 

“What?” He asked puzzled. 

Dinah shook her head. “Not important. So Babs acted like a four-year-old, which I suppose is how she always acts. Remind me to buy her a book on our way back. Why Smart People Can Be so Stupid. You think she will get the hint?” 

“Babs? No.”

“Yeah, that’s what I though too. Come on, pretty boy. Let me buy you an ice cream.”

They left the section with the theological books and Dinah had to admit that when Babs was right, she was right; she had said that there was no better place for a talk (or for a little play time) in the whole Gotham than this section. Hardly anyone was coming here and the few that came were either lost or too focused trying to find conspiracies and secret books to pay attention to anything else.

It felt a little weird being here. This was Babs’s territory and even if the redhead hadn’t been here to work as a librarian in years, Dinah couldn’t shake that feeling. She looked at Dick and wondered if he felt the same way. She had only met Batgirl and often was trying to picture Babs without the weight of Oracle on her shoulders. Without the chair. Would Babs still be Batgirl if the Joker hadn’t shot her that night? Would she still be her best friend if she had never become Oracle? 

“She’s okay? She’s doing fine?”

“Are you okay?” She asked him.

His answer was so soft that she hardly heard it. “No.”

“Then why do you think she’s okay? She’s hurt, Dick, and unlike you, she won’t talk about it. I learned more from you in one hour than I did from her the last couple of weeks. I’m her best friend, damn it! If she can’t talk to me…”

Dick said nothing and they walked outside the open air. It was starting to get cold despite the sun still being up in the sky. The weather station had said that it was going to rain late in the night, but Dinah couldn’t spot a single cloud. Maybe the storm was somewhere else. 

“Do you love her?”

“Of course I do!” 

The boy didn’t take time to think about it. Good for him. Dinah was going to help her friend. Someone had to do something and it was pretty obvious that those two had given up the fight. She looked at her watch. Babs would be still with her dad. So, that gave Dinah enough time to form a plan, kidnap the redhead and drive her all the way to the manor.

Oh! She already had a plan!

“Go to the manor and wait. I’ll bring her there in an hour give or take.”

Dick froze. “What are you going to do? Kidnap her? She won’t come…you’re going to kidnap her, aren’t you?”

“Someone has to do something. And my kung fu is better than hers, so she won’t try anything weird with me. But you two need to talk and that’s what you’re going to do.”

“What if she doesn’t want to talk to me?”

Dinah stopped and looked at him. “She will after I am finished with her.”

 

******************

She had never been an easy child.

He didn’t need to have her perfect memory to remember that his daughter was a pain in the ass. Barbara was too smart, too proud and too damn stubborn for her own good. The second was something he blamed on himself, but the rest was her mother’s. His brother was fool enough to drink himself to death, but Thelma? Thelma was stubborn enough not to leave his brother when she was pregnant with Jim’s child.

It was that stubbornness and a sick twist of fate that gave him the chance to raise his own daughter and not visit her every weekend as any good uncle would do. He had lost two people that he loved, but he had gained a daughter and a new life. And when his divorce came out, Barbara didn’t let him lose himself to sorrow.

He wanted to believe that he did the same for her, but he knew the truth. After the shooting (the bullet should have been for him, damn it!) it took her a while to come back. In fact for a very long period of time he was sure that he had lost her. Then something happen and she changed. She started smiling more and went out more; she had found a purpose to life again. 

Jim should have known it then but a part of him didn’t want to accept the truth. He didn’t want to believe that his daughter was the Batgirl, because that could mean that she had lost a lot more than the use of her legs. So he never asked and when the Batgirl became more of an urban myth and less of a vigilante, he forced himself to believe that Batgirl had retired.

Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. 

But time heals everything and, after a while, she smiled more often and he was able to sleep without thinking of the Batgirl with the red hair. Sure they had their ups and downs; what father and daughter didn’t? And they were still here fighting the good fight, although Jim could be fine without knowing that his daughter was the notorious Oracle, but she was never an easy child to begin with.

And sometimes he wished otherwise.

“I know that look,” he said, wiping his moustache with a napkin. 

His daughter was a creature of the night. She loved to stay up all night and go to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. That’s why he knew that something was wrong when she paid him an unexpected visit before he had his morning coffee. If it hadn’t been the hour, it would have been the lack of plan. Barbara liked to plan out everything. 

“What look?” 

“The ‘I haven’t slept for days because my mind can’t stop thinking’ look.”

“I’m sure you are over reacting,” she replied.

“Oh, no,” Jim said behind his cup of black coffee, “You do look like crap.”

“It’s always a pleasure coming here.”

At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humor. Jim didn’t push her. He knew from experience that pushing her would only cause the opposite effect.

“How’s Dinah? The divorce must be hard on her.”

“Not as hard as living with that cad.”

“How you spell that, anyway?” Jim asked matter-of-factly.

“With an ‘a’ dad. I don’t know if you know it, but I’m a woman and I have respect for that part of the female anatomy. Now if both words happen to sound the same that’s hardly my fault, is it?” 

Jim looked at her. She looked at him. Four seconds later they were both laughing hard. He missed that more than everything. Talking on the phone wasn’t the same as talking face to face with one another. Some days he missed having her here, but his daughter was a woman now and she needed her personal space. 

Being Oracle only complicated things more.

“And what about the Grayson boy? I haven’t seen him in days. You’re still together, right?” He asked and took a sip from his cup.

Barbara flinched. “Very smooth, dad. I didn’t see that one coming from miles away.”

“From the way you are avoiding the question, I have to guess that you’re not seeing each other anymore.”

“We don’t,” she said sad.

Jim stared at her for a long time. 

“For crying out loud, he didn’t cheat on me so you can stop staring at me like this! It wasn’t his fault, okay? It was my fault. It is my fault. Dick did nothing. He’s a good man and he deserves better.”

The cup hit the kitchen table with more force than needed. “Better?”

She must have seen the anger in his eyes because she didn’t dare to speak. 

“What do you mean better, Barbara?” 

“A cripple, dad, okay? He deserves someone that’s not a cripple!”

“Don’t you dare call yourself that word!” he yelled. 

“Why not? That’s what I am anyway. You think sugar coating the pill for me will change the fact that I’m nothing more than a cripple?” 

“Please, Barbie doll…” it was a plea, but if she heard it she paid no attention to it.

“Will it change the fact that I can’t go to my favorite café because they don’t have a ramp? Or that people look at me as if my condition is contagious? Or that I need two hours just to take a du--?” She stopped. Her dad didn’t have to know that. 

Jim had seen his daughter angry before; a lot of times actually. He had never believed the myth for red hair and temper until the day he saw Barbara hit a kid twice her age because he had made fun of her hair. Growing up, she hid that temper behind well calculated moves, but it was always there, just under the surface.

So, to see the anger in her eyes and hear it in her voice shocked him to the core. He could hardly recognize his daughter; her face was misshapen from anger and her green eyes had turned a much darker shade. For the first time in his life, he was afraid of his daughter. 

“Stop it, please!” 

He wasn’t sure if it was the tone of his voice or the fact that, without realizing it, he had pushed his chair next to her. She blinked a few times as if she only then realized what she was doing and stopped. He saw the tears in her eyes and felt like half a man. His child was hurting and he could do nothing to take the pain away. 

No father should feel like this. 

“I’m sorry dad,” Barbara wiped her eyes, but the tears kept coming. 

“Honey, why are you so angry?”

Her body started to tremble and before he knew it he was hugging her, and stroking her hair, and whispering to her ear that everything was fine.

“It’s not fine,” she said between sobs. “I’m angry all the time.”

His knees were killing him but he didn’t let go. If he couldn’t do something to ease the pain, then he would be there for her. He held her until the trembling stopped. After a while her breathing went back to normal and she sniffed hard inside his ear. 

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Somewhat,” she said at the same time the door bell rang.

The last thing Jim wanted was to leave her alone, but she kissed his cheek and let him get up. He gave her a worried look and she tried to smile. 

“It will only take me one minute,” Jim assure her and ignoring the protest of his knees, he run to the next room.

He was never as happy as the moment he saw Dinah standing at his front door. 

“Are you wearing mascara, Jim?”

“What?” He asked and with his hand wiped his cheek. His fingers went black.

“Babs is still feeling sorry for herself?” Dinah asked with concern and stepped inside. 

“I don’t know what to do, Dinah.”

Dinah winked at him. “That’s okay because I have a plan.”


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With an elegant move he rolled off the bed and landed on his feet on the other side. He opened the door of the large closet and dove his head in. He heard her calling his name, but paid no attention to it. He didn’t stop the search even when he felt the wheel of her chair next to his foot.

Funny.

Despite her photographic memory she couldn’t remember the short trip to Bruce’s Manor. It was as if her mind had shut down for twenty minutes. She could swear that Dinah had said something to her on their way, but all she could remember was her best friend carrying her to the car like six years old.

Or like a cripple.

Without her chair there wasn’t much Babs could do and she wasn’t going to crawl in front of her dad. Black Canary had found an ally in the face of Commissioner Gordon and the last thing Barbara wanted to do was make her dad more worried than he already was. Having one break down in front of him was enough for today, thank you very much.

God, had she really said those things to him? After all years of acting all happy-happy, joy-joy for him, she had finally manage to do the only thing she didn’t wanted to do; she had hurt him with her words more than a bullet would ever do.

“Did you hear anything I said?” Dinah’s voice was full of concern and just a tiny hint of anger.

“I didn’t pay attention to you,” she answered and for the first time in the last twenty minutes she looked at the blond.

Dinah smiled. “I’m not the one you should pay attention to anyway.”

Babs raised an eyebrow in surprise, but she turned her face quickly before Dinah had the chance to see and comment on it. Watching her reflection to the passenger’s window Barbara tried to brace herself for what was about to come.

The day was half way through and she was feeling exhausted already.

“Just remember I do this because I love you,” Dinah said. 

“I know,” Barbara agreed. “Doesn’t mean I’ll forgive you though.”

“You’ll forgive me. When you and your boy-o can’t keep your hands from each other, you’ll forgive me. Just so you know I’m expecting something shiny and gold when you come to apologize to me.”

Barbara said nothing. Dick was waiting them patiently since Dinah had parked the car five minutes before. She had faced the Joker twice and hadn’t blinked, but the sight of him was enough to make her legs weak. No pun intended. With a sigh she opened the door and waited for Dick to bring a wheelchair (probably a leftover from Bane) to her side.

“Come with me,” was all that he said.

She looked one last time at Dinah and wheeled herself after him. He didn’t wait for her and Barbara was glad that he was heading on the opposite direction of the manor. She wouldn’t want Bruce or Alfred to hear what they had to say. It also gave her enough time to think of a way to end their relationship without hurting him further-if that was even possible.

They couldn’t work long-term. He was movement and she was sitting in a chair. Even now he was walking with a rhyme he could only hear. One step was more jumpy than the other as if he was dancing. If he stayed with her she would eventually break him down to her level and she didn’t want to lose him. Not like this. 

“I was thinking,” he turned to look at her, but didn’t stop walking. “I know. Surprise! But I was Batman for a while and you know Babs, this whole ‘my girlfriend is a pothead OMG! what I’m going to do’ situation is getting a little ridiculous.”

Barbara nervously bit the inside of her cheek. It seemed that Dick wanted to talk things out and she couldn’t have him do that. She had taken her decision and sadly he had no say on this. 

“I agree. That’s why I’m breaking up with you.”

That stopped him. “Wait, what?”

“I’m breaking up with you Dick,” she finally caught up with him.

“Again?” 

“Yes, and I should had learn something from the first time I did. This,” she waved her fingers between them, “Us will never work.”

“Says who? You?”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, says I.”

She turned her chair away with an effort. Who knew the last time Bruce had used it? The wheels were stiff and made a squeaky noise every time she pushed them. She should be glad that he hadn’t thrown that thing the second he was back on his feet.

She lifted her arms and pushed the large wheels only to lose her balance. Her fast reflexes were what kept her for falling on the ground. She grabbed the chair and turned her head to look at him with anger in her eyes. He was holding the chair with one hand while his left foot was blocking the left wheel.

“What are you doing?”

“What it looks like I’m doing?” His voice was as angry as hers.

Barbara felt her temples vibrate with anger. She didn’t want to imagine how that affected her blood pressure. In her condition she had to be careful with that. People thought that she was cold because of what she did, but the truth was that she had to stay calm for medical reasons. 

Of course sometimes staying calm was simple not an option.

“Stop acting like a baby and let me go!”

“Stop acting like a bitch and I might!”

“Let go of my chair, damn it!” She yelled at him.

“Fine!”

In seconds she was in his arms, his grip left her no room to move. It was the second time today that someone treated her this way and Barbara felt tears burn her eyes. If she could kick him…if she could kick him probably they wouldn’t need to break up in the first place.

At least no one could see them. She would die from embarrassment if Bruce or worse, Damian, saw him carrying her like a modern version of the Bronze Age man. The little brat would tease her forever. 

Fortunately for her, Dick was heading to the hidden, little porch he liked to go when Bruce was having one of his galas. She remembered him looking around if anyone saw him before disappearing for the rest of the night. Dick used to be uncomfortable wearing a tuxedo, but not so much now.

Carefully he set her down on a large chair before taking a seat next to her. His blue eyes were dark with anger, but he was trying to hold it together. She was ready for round two when his question left her speechless.

“What’s the real problem, Babs?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

He stood up and paced for a minute or two in silence. “As I was saying, I was thinking. And as much as I want to believe that you hadn’t planned the whole thing the more it makes sense. You sent me the exact same message so you knew that I was going to come.”

“Dick- -“

“The alarms were down and if there’s one thing you love more than playing with my heart it is your security system.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t play with your heart.”

“Yes, you do,” Dick replied and sat down only to jump up one second later. “You wanted me to catch you and you knew that I was going to be pissed off. Dinah’s your best friend so you know how hard the whole thing with Roy was. So why did you do it Babs? Why do you want to go through all that trouble to break up with me?”

Game over.

Barbara bit her lower lip. “I have a friend. He’s a para like me. We’ve never met in person, but we are members of the same forum. He got married after a six year relationship.”

Dick moved to sit in the lotus position. “Good for him.”

“His wife left him after seven months.”

“And what does that have to do with your little-oh!” 

“She couldn’t stand living with him anymore,” she wiped her eyes. “She even left him a message. ‘You’re not the person I thought you were’. It took her seven years to realize that.”

Dick was now at her side, moving fast and elegant. Or maybe her eyes were just blurred with tears.

“And you thought that I would do the same to you?”

“I’m afraid that you’re going to wake up one day and realize that I’m not worth the effort.”

“Never!”

“I assume she said the same thing to him, but never is a long time, Dick; and I can’t offer you the things you deserve.”

“What I deserve is to be with the woman I love,.” he said taking her hands between his. “Don’t you think I know what I deserve a little better than you?”

“Look at me!” she whispered, her energy suddenly gone. “You shouldn’t love me.”

“But I do, Babs. And right now I have a million reasons not to, but I do. God help me, but I do. You play tricks with my heart and keep secrets from me, when I’m saying everything to you; but I can’t change how I feel.”

“You can try.”

“I can try?” He licked his lips and thought for a minute. “You know I’m afraid, too.”  
She looked puzzled at him. “Of what?’

“I’m afraid that you’re going to wake up one day and realize that I’m not smart enough for you.”

“What are you talking about, Dick? You’re one of the smartest people I know!”

“Yeah, but I’m not your level smart. I will never be your level smart and that’s terrifying. What would you do, if ten years from now I had a belly and no hair and you woke up one day and realized that I’m nothing but a big ball of lard?”

“I’d call Bruce,” she said trying not to laugh. 

“You’d call Bruce?” He asked, surprised and when Babs couldn’t hold her laughter; he joined her.

“Okay,” she said, when she was sober enough to speak. “Point taken. I got scared and acted like an idiot.”

Dick nodded. “More likely like a big gigantic idiot!”

“I just don’t want to lose you,” she said and withdraw her hands from his grip. “I don’t want to lose your respect.”

He smiled. “And how exactly playing mind games with me helps?”

“I got scared and thought- -“

He put one fingers in her lips to make her stop. 

“Thinking is good Babs, but you know what else is also good? Trying. I can’t try alone, honey. You need to try, too. Otherwise we’re going to be one of those couples that break up for no reason. I can’t try alone and I need you to try with me. Can you do that? For us.”

Barbara looked straight to his blue eyes. “For us?”

“Don’t you want to try, Babs? Do you want to live your life in fear, every time someone wants to get closer to you?” Dick asked. “Do you want to be like Bruce?”

Barbara flinched. 

“If you want to be like Bruce, be my guest. Just tell me now, so I can move my things from your apartment. But if you don’t want to be like him, you’ll have to try, Babs. No more secrets, no more Jedi mind games, no more hiding behind that chair of yours. Can you do that?”

She said nothing, lost to her thoughts.

“Can you do that?’ He asked again.

It was the tone of his voice that warned her that she was going to lose him forever, if she didn’t act right away. She knew that if he walked out of her after the way she treated him, no one would blame him. And she also knew that she needed this second chance more than he did. 

“Let’s go home,” she said and was relieved to see him smile.

 

************

 

Three weeks later

Dick stretched his arms behind his back.

It had been a long night and he had fallen asleep the moment he hit the bed. Now, six hours later, he wasn’t as rested as he would like, but he was more hungry than tired. Babs had said something about mash potatoes and ribs and Dick felt his mouth watering. No one could cook ribs like Alfred, but her mash potatoes were to die for and right now he felt like he was going to die if he didn’t put something inside his belly.

A sudden loud noise had him on his feet and outside the bedroom in no time. If someone had broken in the security would have woken him. So that meant that either Babs was losing on Playstation 3 or that she needed his help with something. After everything that had happen between them two months ago, Babs still found it difficult to ask for his help.

He was ready to call her name when he heard what he could describe as wood hitting wood. He smiled; Babs was working out at the gym. If he was lucky she would wear that black sleeveless tee that he liked so much-the one that covered her breasts like a glove and he could see every move of her brea- body. 

Dick felt his mouth watering for another reason. It had been a while since the last time they had sex and he missed her. Some days he would go to bed and wake up only to find her behind her computers. Unlike him, Oracle’s job didn’t end with the first ray of light. Other times she was too worked up to fell asleep and she would spend hours watching the ceiling. He always felt like a bad boyfriend when he woke up, fresh after his normal six hour nap only to stare at her bloodshot eyes. Forcing her to stay away from her toys was harder than forcing Damian to be polite and Dick made sure to keep tabs on her eye gel drops. 

“Babs?” 

He stood at the door and watched her hit the target with force. Dick flinched. She wasn’t hitting the target with a technique and if she did it was none than Dick knew. She was hitting the wooden target as if it had done something to her or as if…she was in pain. 

Dick gave himself a mental slap at the back of his head. Babs had been extra edgy the last week and was dressed for comfort. Dick tried to remember the last time she had slept in the same bed with him and couldn’t. She was still ashamed from the way her body betray her-no, not ashamed but angry.

Every time she had a bad case of spasms she would disappear behind a computer screen until the meds start kicking. Dick had learned a lot the last couple of weeks and he didn’t mind. If he could live with Bruce, he could live with her too. 

“What did the poor thing did to you?” He asked from the door.

“It reminds me of you.”

Dick smiled. She was smiling too. Half a smile, but still a smile. Dinah had warned him about the snarl. She had said that he would know when Babs had more that she could take and she had been right. It didn’t come as a surprise. When two people were as close as Dinah and Babs nothing came as a surprise.

“Now you’re just mean,” he said and rubbed his shoulder. 

“But you like me anyway,” she replied and stretched her arm to catch her towel from the floor. “You hurt your shoulder?”

“I slept on it and now it’s numb. What about you?”

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and wheeled herself closer to him. When she was right in front of him she said, “My legs are numb.”

“Har har! Very funny, Ms Gordon. Does your father know you’re such a comedian?” 

If she wanted to say something it had to wait. Dick leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. Barbara opened to him, her harsh words long forgotten. Dick deepened the kiss and when his lips left hers he heard a groan. He licked his lips tasting her on them. 

He wanted her. Despite having just woken up from a six hour sleep, his body felt tense. He clenched his fingers into fists at his sides and leaned his head back against the door, willing himself to gain control. 

“I need a shower,” He looked at her. “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine?”

She shook her head. “Not today boy wonder.”

“Why not? I’ll fill the tub with your favorite salt,”he said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

He knew that by standing between her and the door he kept her deliberately without an escape route. Apparently all that drama that almost broke them apart had taught her nothing at all. 

“Any reason I should know about? What is it, Babs?” Maybe if he tried a different approach she would open up the part of her heart she kept locked. “I think I know what it is. You don’t find me sexy any more. It’s because I stopped shaving my legs, isn’t it?”

“Come here,” she gripped the hem of his shirt and forced him to lean closer. 

Her mouth sealed to his in a hard, demanding kiss. Barbara wrapped her arms around his neck and caressed his shoulders making his control teeter along a thin line. Even after hours of practice she smelled of soap and shampoo. She was one of the lucky ones; she could sweat like a pig, but didn’t smell like one.

“I always find you sexy although I have to admit that I find men that shave their legs sexy as hell.”

His look puzzled at her.

She explained to him, “Hard muscles under soft skin. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman the feeling is still the same.”

Dick looked at her for a very long time. “Oh my! Aren’t you the kinky type? Should I shave my legs and call you Mistress? Mistress Barbara? Would that please you…Mistress?”

Barbara gave him a mischievous smile. “Yes. Very!” 

Dick tried to keep a straight face but couldn’t. He threw his head back and laughed. Barbara of course found the opportunity she needed and wheeled her chair out of the gym. Still laughing Dick watched her go to their bedroom and followed her there. 

He expected to see her gathering her things for the shower and was half surprised when he saw her swallow a pill from the bottle she kept to the nightstand of her part of the bed. Slowly he sat on the unmade bed and took her hands on his.

“That won’t help you.” It was a statement not a question.

“Some. It will help me some.”

“But it won’t take the pain away.”

Her green eyes stared at his blue ones and for a moment Dick was sure that she was going to withdraw from him. 

“It never does Dick,” she said to his surprise. “The pain never goes away. Some days I hurt more and some days I hurt less, but the pain never goes away.”

He took the orange prescription bottle and played with it. He wished he could turn back the time and be there to stop the Joker before he turned the gun on her and pulled the trigger. But he didn’t have that kind of power, and right now she was in pain and thinking about the past couldn’t help her.

With an elegant move he rolled off the bed and landed on his feet on the other side. He opened the door of the large closet and dove his head in. He heard her calling his name, but paid no attention to it. He didn’t stop the search even when he felt the wheel of her chair next to his foot. 

Where the hell had she put it this time? 

There! With a triumphed smile he took out the tobacco-pouch and hand it to her. Ever the organizer Babs kept her stash clean and found. From the weight of the pouch Dick could tell that she kept there a lighter as well as papers she needed to roll the...joint. 

He wasn’t going to argue that it felt weird to think about it. 

“Take it.” She didn’t and he left a sigh.

“You’re not a cripple,” he said and she looked at him. “You’re not a junkie,” he kissed her on the lips. “You’re not a pothead,” he kissed her on the cheek. “You are the woman I love,” he whispered to her ear. “I can’t stand to see you hurt. Take it.”

This time she did take the tobacco-pouch from his hand and Dick felt like he could jump to the ceiling with joy. Of course he could jump to the ceiling with a little speed and some effort, but somehow that would piss her off and he held that impulse for later.

“I’m going to fill the tub,” he informed her before leaving the room.

He closed the door behind him giving her the privacy she needed. His hand stayed on the knob few seconds more than necessary but eventually her well being was stronger than his curiosity. 

With fast moves he went to the kitchen and made himself a little something to eat. Nothing fancy, just a piece of bread with some cheese and ham and a glass of orange juice. It was enough to ease the pressure in his belly, and that was what he needed. He put the dirty dishes in the sink, wiped his lips on his tee and went to run the tub.

Twenty minutes later he was soaking alone and thinking that she had ditched him when he heard the door open. She wheeled inside and without speaking she crossed her arms over her body and gripped the hem of her shirt. With one single tug, she pulled it over her head. Barbara tilted her head slightly causing her hair to fall forward against the soft curves of her breasts.

Then her hands went down to the waistband of her jeans. She flicked the button open and slid the zipper down with a loud rasp. Dick wanted to help her get done faster, but he kept his hands down on the opposite sides of the tub. He knew how much Barbara hated for others to help her do things she could do herself. 

Slowly she lifted her right leg and pushed the trouser leg down her thigh then did the same with the other leg. She was wearing a black sports bra and matching panties, but it didn’t matter to him. For him she was as sexy when she was wearing panties as when she was wearing thongs. 

“You will smell like lavender,” she said

She maneuvered her chair until it was parallel to the tub. With one steady move she was sitting on the edge of the tub and removing her bra. Dick raised his hands to catch her, but stopped middle air. She had been doing that for a long time now and she didn’t need him to remind her of what she had lost.

The tub was design to meet her needs. That meant that it was big enough for two people and had metal bars around so she could move without help from an outsider. The walls of the tub were at the same height as her chair, making the transition easier from the chair to the tub.

Of course that didn’t mean that he wasn’t worried.

“Batman will rip me a new one for making Nightwing smell like Poison Ivy on a good day.”

Dick chuckled. High Babsy was something new and until a few minutes ago he wasn’t so sure how he was going to react. To tell the truth he still wasn’t so sure of how he was going to react but the next thing he knew she was lowering herself inside the water.

“I thought you weren’t afraid of the big, bad Bat. Being the great Oracle and all,” he teased.

Barbara said nothing for a while. With her fingers she played with the water while Dick watched her. She was smiling softly, but what he found it amazing if not a little odd, was her expression. For the first time in a long time worry lines didn’t cross her face. 

He knew she was under a lot of stress. Whoever said that Oracle’s job was easy and comfy hadn’t spent days behind a screen not knowing if the next move will cause the death of a loved one. 

Barbara couldn’t even pace to ease the tension.

But now she was sitting in front of him so relaxed she didn’t even protest when he took her in his hug and changed her position with three moves, causing water to fell to the floor. He expected her to say something and was surprised when she didn’t. Instead she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

Dick found the opportunity to study her better. 

He always had a crush on Batgirl. The mask made her green eyes seem all the more vibrant and hid the cute little line of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Nowadays she used makeup to cover her freckles and Dick found himself missing them. He didn’t like freckles, but he loved her freckles.

“You have such an amazing color,” she said breaking the silence. “I’m too pale.”

“Yeah, well, despite what you think, sitting in front of your computer all day is not healthy. It is useful, I won’t argue with that, but you need to get out more, Babs. See the sun; you remember what this is?”

“The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It has a diameter of about 865,000 miles- -“

He didn’t let her finish. With his hand he forced her to turn her head and his lips caught hers in a passionate kiss. “You’re so full of shit.”

“Sue me, former boy wonder.”

He licked his lips and said to her, “I rather do something else.”

Dick moved her so she was rested between his open legs, her upper body outside the water. More water fell down the tub’s walls, but neither seemed to mind. Her nipples were hard from the sudden change in the temperature and Dick found the opportunity to stroke her nipple between his fingers and thumb.

“Mmm,” she let a soft moan. “I approve of your actions.”

Dick chuckled, but continued to tease the pink nipple. He wasn’t hard, not yet anyway. With the way she was responding it was only a matter of time before he was deep inside of her. 

Suddenly he asked her, “I’m not taking advantage of you, am I?” 

“Why? Because I smoked a joint? If anyone is taking advantage of the situation it’s me. I’m not in pain, my muscles are relaxed and I want you.”

No one said anything after that. Dick continued to play with her nipples, pinching first the one and then the other, while his other hand went between her things. She moaned again and searched for his lips. Her neck was going to kill her later, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t stop.

He cupped her mound, rubbing his fingers over her clit. In a way Dick was glad that she got infected by the Brainiac since the feeling of her toes wasn’t the only thing she got back that day. Barbara didn’t know it back then and was so happy when she felt her toes move that it took her a while to realize that she had regain the feeling of yet another part of her body.

He lifted his hand and brought it down on her mound in a playful slap. It wasn’t his style to be tough in bed, but as he found out, his sexy librarian liked it dirty. She didn’t like the pain though so his slap was more of a fancy action than a real slap. His cock was now hard and suddenly he was out of patience. 

Still she needed more time.

He slid a finger inside her, knuckle pressing into her while he searched for her clit with his thump. Their position didn’t help him much so after a while he added another digit all the way inside her, stroking, seeking her g-spot. He began to fuck her with his fingers, in and out, first slow then hard, and she grabbed the metal bars.

“Dick,” she said breathlessly. 

“We don’t have a condom,” he whispered to her ear, his fingers never missing a beat.

“You can pull out,” she tried to convince him, but he shook his head.

“I won’t and you know it. Just enjoy it, honey. Let me see you come.”

“Too soon.”

He kissed her neck. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His other hand left her nipples and went down too. He took an earlobe into his mouth and started stroking her clit with his finger. His other hand never stopped, in and out, hard and fast and after a while he felt her breath change. His cock was rock hard now, but this was about her not him. 

“Come on Barbara, come for me honey, that’s it, let it go.”

Barbara came with a loud cry, and collapsed weakly against him, thoroughly overcome as she shuddered in ecstatic release. She twisted and turned her head so she could kiss him again, holding his cheek. When the kiss broke, she licked at his lips and kissed him again. Then she lay back against his chest when the kiss ended, a smile on her face.

“Good?” Dick asked.

“Good,” she replied and closed her eyes.

“Good,” he said again and kissed the back of her head.

 

The End.


End file.
